Medical dispensers are well known for the dispensing of various kinds of medicament. Inhalation devices, such as metered dose inhalers (MDI) and dry powder inhalers are known for the delivery of medicament for the treatment of respiratory disorders. Syringes, including needleless syringes are also known for the delivery of injectable medicament to a patient.
The manufacture of medical dispensers requires careful control to ensure compliance with product specifications. Similarly, the packaging, distribution and sale of medical dispensers are carefully controlled to ensure consistent product quality and security for the patient. It is common practice to mark the dispenser and any packaging therefore with various codings and serial numbers for use in checking product integrity. Widely used marking techniques include the use of visual text, machine-readable text, bar codes and dot codes.
In the event of a patient complaint which results in return of the medical dispenser or indeed in the event of a product recall for any other reason, the manufacturer employs the codings and serial numbers to check the product details. Counterfeiting is known to be a problem with medical dispensers given the often-high resale value of the product. Product marking is further employed to reduce the opportunities for counterfeiting and in particular, to make counterfeit products more readily identifiable.
Reloadable medicament dispensers are known. These typically comprise a housing defining a cavity and a medicament container which is reversibly receivable thereby. The housing and the medicament container may be sold separately or as a kit of parts. There is current interest in the development of reloadable medicament dispensers in which the housing is reasonably sophisticated in nature and comprises some sort of electronic data management capability. The reload is desirably in the form of a medicament cartridge which for cost reasons has a relatively simple form. The patient retains the sophisticated actuator housing and reloads are inserted as required.
There are a number of potential challenges associated with reloadable medicament dispensers and these have hitherto prevented their widespread use. A primary challenge is to ensure that the reload is employed with the correct actuator housing. Secondary challenges include preventing the use of out-of-date or counterfeit cartridge reloads. Tailoring the actuator housing to be only operable (e.g. mechanically operable) with the correct reload is a feasible, but expensive and therefore commercially unattractive solution to the primary challenge. Existing product marking methods can in some ways be employed to address the secondary challenges. Overall, there is a need for further developments to address these and other challenges associated with reloadable medicament dispensers.